A Story Untold
by Archer GhostWolf
Summary: The World of Remnant is dangerous. Only 4 Kingdoms thrived amongst others whom fallen... Atlas to the north... Vacuo to the west... Mistral to the east... And Vale in the center... What about the Kingdom to the south? The undiscovered island of Shadows? The people who managed to live there? The unknown society of Remnant? Well… Let the story unfold.
1. Prologue

**A/N: This is a whim story, after watching RWBY World of Remnant 2, I got inspired to write this. Some things might not make sense since this is rushed. Enjoy.**

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><p><em>The <em>_**World of Remnant**__... A world full of danger... It is not to be taken likely by others who say it is a peaceful society. No... It's far from peaceful... Centuries of bloodshed must be made in order for peace to arise from the darkness lurking within its walls... Only 4 Kingdoms thrived amongst the others whom fallen into the shadows..._

_**Atlas**__... To the north..._

_**Vacuo**__... To the west..._

_**Mistral**__... To the east..._

_And __**Vale**__... In the center..._

_But whatever happened to the kingdom of the South?_

_...Yes there is a kingdom in the south..._

_..._

_..._

_Fools, there is only an island on the south! It is not a mainland where most kingdoms and small towns prosper in... Although... You might not be fools after all... _

_If you are wondering how such an island is good enough for a fifth kingdom to survive than you are wrong... A man of the name Shade Ergon founded a medium-sized mainland miles from that pathetic island. It is an unknown island from the rest of the world, those who discovered it never came back... They have either died from natural causes trying to find what's beyond the walls of trees or the people who live there had taken them to the kingdom and never let them out... This Kingdom managed to survive by staying off the radars of the world outside them, only letting the graduated people go out and lie about where they came from... Are you wondering what this kingdom is? What kind of society does it hold? How did they manage to survive the Grim? Well..._

_This is __**Sanctuary**__... To the south..._

_Sanctuary has been founded years before the others and have set up a strict system of not letting anyone know about this society. A society of monsters... Not real monster, but humans. Humans who are either Faunus, Wesen, Normal, or Dust-Oriented. They thrive by training their young ones how to fight by the age of five. How to get resources by the age of seven. How to survive by the age of ten. And then how to kill Grim. Along the way they learn how to hack into advance technology, in order to prove you lived in any of the other kingdoms, and having an education of course... If you're able to keep up with all of this, then you move onto either one of three academies at the age of twelve... _

_**Ace Academy**__... A specialized school for politicians, tacticians, and scientists. Politicians who become leaders of either the society or the world. Tacticians for strategics in battle or outside battle. Scientists for advanced technology and studying of the world around them. _

_**Tale Academy**__... A specialized school for guardians, warlocks, and aura-based. Guardians who protects the helpless from the threats. Warlocks for those who have the art of dust manipulation and glyph summoners, they help for eliminating targets. The aura-based people who rely solely on their aura for protection and fighting become more stronger and in control of the aura. _

_**Lone Academy**__... A specialized school for fighters. People who are willing to give up their lives fighting for survival of the population of the world. _

_These three kingdoms will be the base of your knowledge as you progress further until the age of seventeen... That's when things start getting rougher and more competitive._

_**Draken Academy**__... A specialized school founded for the sake of training the new generations of hunters, mercenaries, leaders, soldiers, and assassins. This school will train and teach you hard enough until they release a ruthless and merciless monster into the world. You graduate after four years, if you survive that is, and that's where you would choose either going out into the world or staying in the kingdom. Usually half of the graduates stay while the rest leave out into the world._

_Sanctuary... That's the basics of how they work but I won't go on any further into detail. It is up to you whether you wish to continue to learn more about the people and the kingdom. If you choose to continue on to the next chapter, then you will meet many characters, each choosing different paths. You will not get to see the full experiences of Tale, Ace, or Lone Academy, but it will be shown how it works. The people you would be mostly centering on is two groups of Draken students. It will start on the 2nd semester of the first year for some, while a few is their second to last year. Time to stop spoiling or stalling..._

_Let the story begin setting on the coming of the Vytal Festival... _


	2. Vytal Preparations

**A/N: Thank you for continuing onto the story. This chapter may be boring, due to the fact its mostly OCs, but no worries, we will get to Ruby and the others soon enough. Again, this is on a whim, so don't expect a lot of updates since I'm juggling two stories at once. I will be mainly focusing on character development, interactions, and introducing them at the moment. Anyways, Enjoy.**

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><p>Yelling…<p>

And more yelling…

Cheering…

And more cheering…

That's all that the young twelve year old could hear. The dust distorted human, the first Warlock in decades, that's what would they call her. Her multi-colored eyes proved how different she was compared to the rest. She did not have tattoos like the Wesen or animal-like ears like the Faunus, instead she had something more. Something more intimidating and powerful. She had the mark of a rare elemental human. That mark was the colors in her eyes. It's been a decade since the Kingdom last saw an elemental human, they have always hoped for one to be brought into the academies, and there was their hope. They say you cannot spot an elemental human until the age of twelve, where either the color of their eyes or hair change into the multi-color markings of what a true Warlock is.

This true Warlock was Nylee du Lac, the adopted sister of the Guardian, Azura Navy. The young warlock had dark brown hair tied into a ponytail that reached the end of her neck. Her multi-colored orbs shined with fear and excitement. Fear of being rejected from others, yet excited about finally going into an academy where her sister was currently. For now though, she had to get through the parade dedicated for her. The last true Warlock, Seraphina Fall, has been long forgotten by her people when she turned her back at them and shunned them from her life. Now, with newly found hope that this Warlock would bring pride into their Kingdom, they would hold a feast and celebration.

Although, the young Warlock was not the only person they were celebrating for, she was one of four. Next to her was a young boy a year older than her, he was not a human nor faunus. He was a Ursa Wesen. Wesens were half-grimm, half-human and had natural body tattoos from when they were two years old. Sure, Wesens were common in this Kingdom, but the thing about Wesens was that they had no semblance or aura. This young boy was the first ever Wesen that had a semblance and of course, aura along with it. His name was Regis Blades, foster brother of Shane Fenris the Tactician. His amethyst orbs glowed with pride as the short jet black hair that had thin streaks of white flowed with the wind. Even though his aura and semblance may be weak, it still gave Wesens a sense of pride considering that one of their kind had a semblance.

The third one was a Bear Faunus, a current student of Lone Academy. His white long hair was glistening in the sun while his golden eyes showed the glory of winning one of the Mistral Kingdom Tournament. Almost no one, that was a Faunus, ever won Mistral's Tournaments. Usually they were already beaten to death by the people there, but this boy was able to lie about almost his entire life and able to hide his ears. His name was Uther Woods, the cousin of the Aura-Based, Ulric Hoseki.

Last, but definitely not least, a human outsider that was able to catch up to all of the training she had missed in her young years. Her name was Amber Allison, the niece of the last Warlock, Seraphina Fall. Founded by the Headmaster of Ace Academy, the human Acelin Arc, in the woods surrounding the Kingdom, she was taken under his wing to be taken care of. Only ten years old at that time yet she was able to meet the expectations of Lone Academy. Amber was definitely not one to mess with.

Humans, Wesens, and Faunuses alike, would gather around and celebrate all of these people. That was how the life in Sanctuary was at that time. How "peaceful" this Kingdom was without the outside world.

How things change so quickly...

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><p><em><strong>Five Years later…<strong>_

"Nylee! Get your lazy ass up! We have class in half an hour!" A teenage girl yelled as she struggled to put on her uniform. This was Ellen Hunter. A girl that had wavy shoulder-length brown hair with light brown streaks within it complimented by soft brown orbs. Ellen Hunter was Nylee's roommate in Draken Academy. She was a graduate of Ace Academy as a Tactician and her goal in Draken Academy was to be a Huntress.

"Gaaaah… If you keep quiet I _might _get up…" The girl still under the sheets of the bed grumbled as she turned to her side. This was Nylee du Lac. A girl that had straight shoulder-length dark brown hair, usually tied into a ponytail, that was accompanied by her rare multi-colored eyes. Nylee was a 1st year Draken student along with her roommate, Ellen, it was her second semester and the first day back to school. She was a graduate of Tale Academy as a Warlock and her goal in Draken Academy was to be an Assassin.

Ellen, who finally was able to put her skirt and sweater on, walked over to the other girl's bed and yanked the sheets off of the sleeping beauty. A loud yelp and crash echoed in the room as Ellen, who dropped the blanket, started furiously packing her things. She regretted letting Nylee sleep in all the time during the break between 1st and 2nd semester, now look at their situation. They're going to be late for class if Nylee doesn't hurry up and prepare, even though they had different classes.

"Okay! Now that you're up, go get dressed and ready~," Ellen said in a singing type of voice as the other girl mumbled curses and started gathering her own things. "Plus, you don't want Azura to get mad, do you~?" That did it. The Warlock was now completely awake and alive as she slipped on her own uniform at the same time as packing her bags. Despite the fact they had thirty minutes before class, the duo still had to eat. So as soon as Nylee looked ready, Ellen rushed them out of the dorm and into the hallway towards the Mess Hall.

As the two reached outside of the dorm building, a few teachers noticed their big rush. Shaking their heads and taking a few sips of their coffee, they continued on to prepare for their class, knowing that this was expected of the duo. Even though they only knew the two students for half a year, it was obvious this was likely to happen to most students based on their experiences being a teacher for more than three years.

Back to Nylee and Ellen, the duo had already reached the Mess Hall, where they were scrambling for food. Ellen stuffed a roll of pancakes before dashing towards her first class period while Nylee headed to her first class, still having a piece of bread in her mouth. Since Nylee and Ellen had different goals in Draken Academy, they had different classes. A few they shared, but most were directed to their goals. Ellen had Grimm and Wesen Psychology while Nylee had Anatomy. Grimm and Wesen Psychology was for people whose goal was to be a Hunter or Leader while Anatomy was for people whose goal was to be a Assassin, Mercenary, or Soldier.

Ellen was able to reach her class on time while Nylee was getting lectured by her Anatomy teacher from being two minutes late and bringing food to class.

What a great welcome back gift to Draken Academy, ain't it? Draken Academy was a very strict school. Discipline, glory, skill, and respect was all that mattered in Draken. Students tend to be called Drakes for first through third year while fourth years were called Drakens. Draken Academy was founded twenty years after the founding of Sanctuary. The Kingdom nor did the two other Academies, Ace and Lone, were steady at the time Draken was being built. Sanctuary was a mess before a man by the name Miles came in.

Miles Crooked was a man with royal blood. He brought peace and order into the Kingdom. He created school systems for all of the built schools so far. The Drakken family, which Draken Academy is named after, were the royal family who ruled at this time. The founder of Sanctuary, Shade Ergon, died of an unknown illness five years after building Sanctuary. Miles was… You can say he was the "architect" of Sanctuary. He helped find different locations for each school. For reasons unknown, he built Draken Academy on Menagerie, taking the Faunus and Wesens that the Humans had so cruelly dumped there as his workers to build Draken in return to reside alongside the peaceful Humans of Sanctuary. Miles also helped began the Faunus and Wesen Rights Revolution War and helped win it through bribes, politics, and weapons, causing Menagerie to stop receiving anymore Faunus or Wesens.

Miles Crooked as well helped the Drakken family build a strict schooling, or grading, system for each academy, so the new generation doesn't lose their way.

Lone Academy was scaled by skills, every end of the week students compete in a mini tournament to see how far they have advanced. Their skill levels are from 0-7, seven being the highest and zero the lowest.

Ace Academy was graded by knowledge, letters identifying your standings. E, which stands for "Excels", being the highest. A, which stands for "Average", in the middle. F, which stands for "Failure", the lowest. D, which stands for "Disgrace", meant that you were expelled from Ace Academy.

Tale Academy, which wasn't founded until a year after Draken was founded, was ranked on levels from 1-30. One being the highest while thirty being the lowest. They were graded by how they could control their aura/semblance, Dust, and knowledge of glyphs.

Draken Academy was graded by all of these things. Skills, Knowledge, and Control ranked by 0-7, seven being the highest and zero the lowest. Barely anyone graduates a seven or a zero, the average being a five.

All of these ranks determine your position in Sanctuary's society. There were only two options in the society after all…

Excel or Fail.

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><p>"Alright, class is dismissed. Now remember, we have a review test tomorrow so do me a favor, and don't flunk it… I'm looking at you Mr. Woods," The <em>Melee and Range Combat <em>teacher glared at the seventeen year old boy with white shoulder-length hair and a pair of golden orbs. The boy gave her a thumbs up and an uneasy smile of reassurance.

"No worries, Mrs. Fiend. I'm sure I'll ace that test like you've never seen!" He said jokingly as everyone in the class chuckled. Everyone knew that Uther Woods was a grade A student! Uther Woods is a graduate of Lone Academy, his goal was to become a Mercenary.

"Maybe if you get hit by a Melee handbook really hard on the head, then you would ace the test~!" A girl hollered, laughing afterwards when Uther attempted to throw a book at her twenty feet away and was rather close to hitting her, but the girl had tremendous reflexes, so it hit the wall behind her instead. "You missed~. I thought you were good at hitting your targets Uther~," The girl taunted, flipping her long maroon hair back, twilight blue eyes glowing with mischief. Her name was Isabel Alain, the troublemaker in the school. She was a graduate of Tale Academy as a Guardian, her goal was to be an Assassin.

"Hey, you don't do any better Bell. Last time I checked, you failed the last test and on top of that, you failed on the long and mid-range test last semester. So stop acting like you're the top dog out of the two of you," Nylee remarked as she slipped on her messenger bag. Isabel crossed her arms and pouted at her good friend while Uther gave out a mighty roar of laughter.

"This is why Nylee and I are very good friends. She always got my back when it comes to your insults, Isabel," Uther commented as he flashed the pouting girl a toothy smile. Isabel then looked over to Nylee, hoping to get a defensive response from her, but she just rolled her eyes and shrugged. This caused Isabel to groan and continue to pack up her own stuff. Uther laughed once again and gave Nylee a pat on the back before heading down to the Mess Hall for lunch. Nylee followed soon after, but waited just outside the door for Isabel to apologize about taking Uther's side instead of her own. When she saw the maroon hair coming out of the door, she hugged that person from behind, creating a shriek of surprise in response of the hug.

"Sorry that I took Uther's side then yours…" The taller girl said as she rested her chin on the shoulder of the shorter one. Isabel tried to squirm out of the girl's hold, but the hug grew tighter so she gave up.

"Don't talk to me. I'm upset that you chose a guy over your good friend. I'm hurt Ny," Isabel feigned to be hurt by placing her hand over her heart. Nylee smirked and moved closer to her ear.

"Aw… And I was looking forward to seeing you tonight," Nylee whispered in the girl's ear before moving away to study the reaction of the Guardian. That said guardian started glowing red with embarrassment, especially with the fact that Nylee's hand was on her thigh. In a swift second, Isabel was gone, leaving a smirking Nylee by herself in the hall.

"Never gets old…"

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><p>"But Baby! I love you~," Nylee crooned as she attempted to hug Isabel again, to only end up hugging the air. Isabel on the other hand was on the opposite side of the table their group was eating at.<p>

"Yeah, sorry, but I can not return those feelings."

"Aw~ But why not?" The Warlock whined, causing Isabel to roll her eyes at the girl.

"Unlike you, I prefer boys, not girls," Isabel responded as she sat back down to her seat to continue eating her lunch. Nylee groaned, but had a playful smile on her face when she sat down next to a girl with black hair that had a single light gray streak of hair. Her duke blue-gray tinted eyes that displayed amusement.

"Mm? I thought you had a small crush on that one girl… What was her name again?" The girl spoke as she took a bite on a piece of bread. This was Azura Navy, a graduate of Tale Academy as a Guardian. Her goal was to become a Huntress once she graduates from Draken Academy, which is rather soon since this was her 3rd year in Draken.

"No, I never had a crush on a girl. What are you talking about?" Isabel questioned the older girl's knowledge. _'Where did she get that from?' _The maroon-haired girl wondered as she played with the pasta in front of her.

"Yeah, if I remember correctly, you did have a crush on a girl once. She's the same year as you guys as well," One of the boys in the table remarked while running a hand through his slate gray hair and gray eyes blinking in puzzlement. Shane Fenris, another 3rd year student, was a graduate of Ace Academy as a Tactician. His goal was to be a Leader.

"What?! No! I never had a crush on any girl! Jeez, where did you get this idea from? Azura?" Isabel questioned, pointing at the other Guardian. Azura shrugged in response and continued to eat her food.

"Just admit it, you do have a crush on a girl… Or used to," Ellen remarked, pointing her fork at a now irritated Isabel. Before the irritated girl could respond, the boy next to her spoke up.

"Stop pushing her guys. She says its not true, then its not true. So just drop the subject," The boy with light brown hair and baby blue orbs declared politely. He was Kadir Gwaine, graduate of Ace Academy as a Scientist and a soon-to-be Hunter.

"Thank you! At least someone agrees with me!" Isabel cried as she gave Kadir a hug. The gentlemen responded to the hug by taking a sip of the cup of tea in front of him.

"Although, she did have a crush on a girl named Amber Allison in the beginning of the year. How ironic that Amber is also her partner for this year," Kadir commented, earning a punch and a push from Isabel while the others laughed. Yes, every student in Draken Academy had a partner, only for a year though. Your partner is randomly chosen by a computer and it is possible for a 1st year student to have a 4th year student as their partner. Basically saying, you could be pretty much partnered with any student in the school.

"And I thought someone finally had my back!" Isabel complained, pouting once more. Kadir gave her an apologetic gesture and clasped his hands together playfully.

"Hehe, sorry, but I was only stating the truth. You did have a crush on her, no?" Kadir inquired, catching the attention of the others in their table. Isabel, looking rather defeated, sighed and nodded her head. With much delight and sense of victory, Nylee climbed on top of the table and made a circle shape around her mouth with her hands.

"WOOOOOOO! I WAS RIGHT!" She screamed on the top of her lungs, quickly glancing at the clock near the entrance of the Mess Hall as she did so. It was time for class. "BUT UNFORTUNATELY IT'S TIME TO GO TO CLASS! SO LET'S GET MOVING!" Everyone in the room groaned. People soon started hurrying to finish their lunch and head to class, Nylee jumped down from the table and started packing her stuff together. The others followed suit, throwing away their lunch on the way to class.

Their next class was _History_, a class that all of the students had to go to. History was divided into four classes, meaning 1st year students were separated from the 2nd years and the 2nd years were separated from the 3rd years, who were separated from the 4th years. This class was the one of two classes that was mandatory and all students, no matter their goal, had to attend. The other class was Technology and Natural Advancement, which had four classes as well. It was also divided by the what years the students were in.

Another class that all students share was the _Electives_. The Electives were six optional classes chosen by the students themselves. The classes were _Manipulation, Tool Crafting and Creating, Scamming, Distractions, Scouting, and Medicine and Health. _Each student picks 2 out of the six for their last two periods for a whole semester. Of course, they don't have to do it, but they would have to help clean the school if they don't choose their last two periods.

There are of course more classes to explain about, but that will be saved for another day. On with the story… Or maybe not. Explaining the Electives would make some things clearer. Manipulation class is simply a class to assist others to control glyphs and dust, elements. Tool Crafting and Creating was a class to teach you how to create necessary tools from scratch and with the environment around you. Scamming is basically a class made for people who hack to find out certain information about companies, kingdoms, academies, and people. Distractions is a class for people who disguise as others and are trained to sneak into another company, army, and etcetera with much ease. It isn't really a distraction class as said by others. Scouting class is exactly what the name says, students are taught what certain things they need to find to know if something has been there before and will come back, like a detective would try to figure out what happened in a crime scene. Medicine and Health is basically a class for people who wish to study in the medical field and help with finding cures and treating illness or wounds.

Simple yet complicated to explain classes.

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><p>"Ah~ I can't wait until we graduate. After this semester, only one more year to go and we're free from classes!" A girl with fuschia hair and pink eyes sighed out, plopping down on her seat. Azura chuckled as she sat down next to her, placing down the essentials for class in front of her.<p>

"It isn't all that bad, Ayala. Most classes are quite easy and based on battling skills," Azura remarked, causing the other girl to groan. This was Ayala Kenya, a Monkey Faunus. She was a graduate of Lone Academy and she was graduating as a Soldier.

"C'mon Azura, just admit that you don't like classes like everyone else." The girl just shrugged, opening her notebook to a page called the "Doodle Page".

"They're okay… It's just there are too many classes and all are for battling, which is quite upsetting. We need at least a few educational classes to balance out the combat ones," Azura stated, getting a sigh from her friend.

"I think you're like... The only one who takes school seriously," Ayala clarified, to only get another shrug in response. Ayala sighed, yet again, and started getting the materials she'll need for History class. "I wonder how the 1st years are doing…"

_**To the 1st year History Class…**_

"Ugh… You should've let me sleep in Ellie~... All we're doing is reviewing what we learned last semester," Nylee grumbled as she and Ellen sat in their respective seats for class, take note that they are sitting right next to each other.

"Do you really want to fail the 2nd semester?" The fighter asked her whiney roommate, slapping down her notebook and utilities in front of her as she did so. Nylee groaned in response, folding her arms on top of her notebook and resting her head on it.

"Not really… But I honestly don't care at the moment," Ellen rolled her eyes and began poking the other girl's head.

"Of course you don't… Why in the world would you?" Nylee shrugged, murmuring about taking a nap as she turned her head away from her roommate. Ellen sighed, giving up on the other girl, she decided to turn around where Isabel and Uther were bickering.

"C'mon, why can't you just admit you had a crush on a girl?" Uther questioned, more like demanded, the short girl in front of him. Isabel huffed crossing her arms across her chest.

"Cause I'm straight! I'm not like this mutt over here!" Isabel pointed at the napping Nylee. Uther shook his head and leaned on the table.

"Stop blaming everything on poor Nylee. This is one of the reasons why Nylee never backs you up. You always blame her on all of your faults," The Bear Faunus stated proudly, sitting down on his seat and putting his legs up on the table, further irritating Isabel.

"Hey! I don't always-"

"ENOUGH!" A loud masculine voice boomed causing napping students to jolt up or fall from their chairs, Nylee was one of the people who fell. Isabel and the other students who were fooling around and out of their seats, immediately sat down, hands folded in front of them like perfect students.

That's how History class began for the 1st years. Their teacher however, instead of talking about history or introducing himself, jumped right into talking about the Grimm.

"Now, 1st year Drakes, I know some of you already had some Anatomy or Grimm and Wesen Psychology. But! Did you know there are different types of Grimm?" A unison of "No's" filled the room which satisfied the teacher. He wasn't too late after all. "Then let me tell you! History doesn't really matter all that much in your first year, it is very boring let me tell you. I have four years with most of you so let's kick it off by starting with our neighbors the Grimm." The teacher began to pace around the room before stopping in front of his desk. "Oh, by the way, my name is Vartan Raven. Call me Mr. Vartan or Mr. Raven." The students giggled and rolled their eyes. Their History teacher definitely seem chill.

"So there are three different types of Grimm. There are our typical normal Grimm, commonly found, Beowolves, Ursas, and so on. Then there are the Elemental Dust Grimm, uncommonly found, Fire, Ice, and so on. And finally," Mr. Raven halted and eyed each and every one of the students, "There are the Shadow Grimm, whom are very rare. Anyways, we all know that Grimm feed off on negative energy emitting from any living thing and that their origin is still unknown. We also know, Grimm, once defeated, dissolve into the air. What happened next in the cycle of Grimm? Well, we don't know…" Mr. Raven went up to his desk and slammed his fist on top of it. A piece of cloth that was hiding something underneath it, fell onto the wooden flooring, revealing a clear, prefect grayish-white Dust Crystal.

"Until now," Mr. Raven tore a piece of the Dust, "Recent studies has proved that Dust is created by Grimm DNA, reason why it is strong enough to battle the Grimm. Look, watch," The students watched as Mr. Raven tore another piece of the crystal and a hint of black smoke came out of it when he did this, making the first years stare in awe or boredom, "That's one of the reasons why it is Grimm DNA. Anyways, I won't go into further detail about this theory but I'll give you this…" Mr. Raven took a piece of chalk and started drawing something on the blackboard. The students stared at the image he drew, confused. It was an oval and a dot in the middle.

"The more older the individual Grimm is and the more negative energy it absorbed… The stronger the Monster."

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><p>"Ah~! Finally done with classes~" Ayala groaned out, stretching her arms to rid of the "soreness". She and the others in her group, Azura, Kadir, and a boy with messy brown hair and glittering emerald eyes, Ulric Hoseki, exited the main school building and headed towards the dorms.<p>

"Is it really that painful for you to go to class?" Ulric asked the younger girl, checking his scroll as he waited for a response.

"Yeah, classes are boring! Except when you get to fight each, it gets less boring. Boring nonetheless though." Ayala stated in a sing-along voice.

"You must really hate the academies to say that. Most of our classes are combat based." Kadir pointed out.

"Yeah… I got to fight 2 fourth years today and a Death Stalker." Azura mentioned, making Ayala sigh.

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Anyways… Isn't a festival suppose to be starting soon?" The pinkette asked.

"What festival? Do you mean the Vytal Festival that Beacon Academy is hosting?" Kadir mentioned, adjusting his glasses and opening his scroll to search up the festival. Azura looked over his shoulder to see a picture of Beacon Academy's symbol and information involving the festival.

"You really think we're going to participate in this festival again? We almost got caught last time since the Hackers mess up on Ayala's information by saying she was in _Ignition _Academy! That Academy doesn't even exist!" Ulric stated as Azura thought about his words. She was slightly suspicious about what Draken Academy's Headmaster was trying to accomplish by sending students to the festivals and tournaments, posing as false students in other academies throughout the Kingdoms except Sanctuary.

Three years ago Draken Academy's old Headmaster, Achilles Troy, passed from a mission. Their new Headmaster, whose name is unknown to the students since he only tells everyone to call him Headmaster, changed some of the Electives, rules, and brought new traditions in. One of the traditions was the shadowing of Hunters, Mercenaries, Assassins, and Leaders plus the "Festival Infiltration", as students call the annual festivals. The Headmaster didn't change the Electives, just added three more in order to have a 7th period for Draken. He added the Scouting, Distractions, and Scamming, all based off some of the clubs in Draken. No one knows what the Headmaster is planning and no one knows how exactly he had become the Headmaster of Draken. The 4th and 3rd years definitely have some suspicions about the Headmaster.

'_Ignition Academy __**does **__exist… It's where all of the failed students and exiled citizens go to...'_ Azura affirmed to herself, but kept the information to herself.

Ignition Academy was another special academy of Sanctuary's for students who fail to meet Draken, Lone, Ace, or Tale Academy's standards or for exiled citizens who broke laws. Ignition Academy made students become rogues, people who do anything for anyone. Students randomly gets pulled out of school at any time if they are needed to do something for the Kingdom. Whether it's guarding someone, exterminating Grimm, and etcetera. They keep failed students there until they reach the age of twenty one to only be sent to General Grey Grimm. From the General they are to be decided what are they going to do for their rest of their lives. It's either working for the imperial guards, military, or huntsmen. If they are given a second chance, they get to choose, but it is limited since they cannot leave the Kingdom boundaries unless they wish to be executed. The exiled citizens stay until the Headmaster of the Academy thinks they're ready to meet the same fate as the students.

Ignition Academy was graded by Glory, ranking 0-9. Zero being the lowest and nine being the highest. Glory was determined by how many missions and tasks you have successfully completed, earning points depending on how difficult the mission was and needing a certain amount of points in order to get higher up in the rankings. If you fail a mission, your glory points are deducted and there's a chance you'll drop from a high rank to a low rank. Sparring matches, which is rare to get into, also determine your Glory. If you're fighting a higher rank and win, you rank up immediately, lose you stay the same. If you're fighting a lower level and lose, you rank down immediately, win you stay the same. Fighting someone the same rank as you, either win or lose, you'll stay the same.

"Well, I'm going to do my best to AVOID participating in it again. I'm not trusting those Hackers ever again with my identity." Ayala declared, looking rather annoyed about remembering how she ended up being interrogated by Haven and Beacon Academy's Headmasters. The Hacker club are made out of students who excel in the Scamming Elective. They rarely mess up when hacking, especially when it came to the festival. Fortunately, Ayala was the only one whose information got switched.

"Good luck with that, Headmaster would probably force us to participate except in different teams." Kadir stated, closing his scroll and putting it back into his bag. The strongest and intellectual students were forced to participate in the annual festival or else they would be expelled. Explosion meant death, unless you are able to survive the dangers outside the protection of the Kingdom.

"But why is the-" Azura was about to say her thoughts out loud, but she was saved by an announcement.

"Will all 3rd and 1st year students report to the Assembly Line and would all 4th and 2nd year students report the Armory. I repeat. Will all 3rd and 1st year students report to the Assembly Line and would all 4th and 2nd year students report the Armory. Thank you."

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><p>The Assembly Line was basically a large white room with marble bleachers that was divided by a glass wall. This room was created for simulations. The control room was under the bleachers where people would program the room to simulate certain things such as a battlefield or a forest and create live models of Grimm or other living things that could actually injure you.<p>

Students in 1st and 3rd year began to gather around, sitting down on the bleachers with talkative mouths. Most of them knew that they were going to announce the 16 Draken representatives who were going to attend the Vytal Tournament. The rest of the students that are 1st or 3rd get to study the area surrounding and in the Kingdom of Vale, posing as different academy students. They also have the liberty to enjoy the festival as they please.

The students in 4th and 2nd years get to shadow in missions with other people who are either Leaders, Huntsmen and Huntresses, Assassins, Mercenaries, and Soldiers. They choose individually, not with their assigned partners, on which mission they wish to shadow.

Azura, Ayala, Shane, Ulric, and Kadir were sat in the second row of the bleachers. While Nylee, Uther, Isabel, Ellen, and Regis were sitting in the row in front of them. Other students sat in the last three rows behind them or next to them.

"I wonder who's going to be in the Tournament this year…" Shane inquired, leaning forward and resting his chin on his folded hands. Azura sighed, propping her elbow on her thigh and resting her chin on the palm of her hand.

"I bet you it's going to be us again… Considering we're one of the top students in Draken."

"How about the 1st years? Don't forget about them."

"Last time I checked, Regis and a girl named Amber were one of the top students. I don't remember the rest…" Shane hummed.

"So you're basically saying that you have no faith that your sister, Nylee, is going to be one of the sixteen?" Shane noted, causing Azura to scratch her chin in thought.

"It's not like I have no faith in her, but," The Guardian looked down at her sister who was making kissing faces at Isabel, "I don't think she's ready to face what the world really is. I know she will have to see it sooner or later, but…" Azura sighed and shook her head.

"You and I both know that Nylee won't and will never be ready. With the White Fang and Black Shadow running loose, no one is ready for what's to come next." Shane indicated, gazing down at the stage, glaring at it almost.

"I know but… Remnant is changing Shane. Sooner or later, things will meet its end and a new order will begin. Just like we learned in History class. Vale, Vacuo, Mistral, Atlas, and Sanctuary started off from old small towns that was able to survive long enough to build a whole Kingdom." Azura stopped herself for saying anything else. Shane decided to drop the subject, knowing how strongly Azura feels about certain things. They sat in silence for the remainder of the time.

Ellen, who was eavesdropping the whole conversation, turned to the girl next to her. "Was Ayala, Kadir, Shane, and Azura were four out of the sixteen who were chosen right? Back when they were in 1st year?" Ellen asked the random girl. She didn't recognize her, but she seemed like a 1st year. The girl had wavy shoulder-length jet black hair and silver orbs that gave off a rather amiable aura with a hint of mischief and flirtiness.

"Mm… Yes, I believe so…" She replied, smiling. Ellen smiled back before scratching the back of her head in a very cliche way.

"Uh… Sorry but I don't think we ever met before… Who are you?" Ellen asked, slightly embarrassed and feeling like the way she worded it was quite rude.

"Amber Allison. First year student and a graduate of Lone Academy. I'm training as a Mercenary."

"Ellen Hunter. First year student and a graduate of Ace Academy as a Tactician. Huntress-in-Training~."

"Hm? That's quite a common combination being a Tactician and a Huntress." Amber remarked.

"Well… I guess so. It's also quite common to be a Fighter and becoming a Mercenary. You really want to see the world burn, don't you?" Ellen joked as Amber giggled and shrugged.

"Mm… Well skills change over time and so do minds. It all depends in you on which path you choose and how you develop your skills over time…" She replied, glancing behind Ellen to see Nylee who is currently laughing at an irritated Isabel. Amber's eyes flickered and turned back to the small marble white stage that was being projected. "Looks like we're started…"

A built man was suddenly projected in the middle of the stage. He had onyx spiked up hair and emerald orbs. He wore a brown button shirt with a red bandana tied around his head and gray cargo pants. A microphone of some sorts was projected before him as he cleared his throat.

"Hello Draken students. If you did not know, I am General Gryl Grimm…" A short pause with a few students giggling, "No pun intended there... Anyways, I am the head of the Army of Sanctuary. Your Headmaster, as you can see, is not here at the moment, so I will be filling in for him. Although I bet most of you know that this is about the Vytal Festival coming in two weeks. So I'll go right ahead and announce the sixteen who will be participating in the tournament…" People started getting on the edge of their seats in a very cliche way. "...After explaining everything else." The students groaned while Grimm just laughed.

"It won't take too much time I promise. Now, the 3rd years should know that if you are not chosen, then you would have to pose as another academy student doing some side quests. Some of us will be gone longer than others, most likely the imposter students in Beacon. The side quests are usually scouting the Kingdom and areas outside of the Kingdoms. But others…" He cleared his throat and paused for dramatic effect, "Are breaking a few laws… Now, your missions don't start until receiving a message the day before concerning the time you start and the time you come back to Draken. So until then, enjoy the Festival and its activities. Anyways, with that explain, let's move on shall we?" A small white table was projected with a black box on top of it. The 1st years stared at it with curiosity and the 3rd years rolled their eyes.

"The sixteen people who are chosen will be shown from this box," He gestures towards the box, "And must come down here once your name has been announced. So…" He walked over next to the table, "Let's begin… The first team will be…"

"Azura Navy." The Guardian stood up and started heading down to the stage while others either clapped or glared at her with envy. Azura Navy was the classic typical "Cool Beauty". Always had good grades and praised with barely any emotions.

"Kadir Gwaine." The Scientist calmly rose from his seat and followed after Azura. Kadir Gwaine was a Nevermore Wesen and surprisingly a gentleman, but Nevermore Wesens do tend to be quiet and respectful people. Much like Azura, he had good grades, praised, and envied.

"Ulric Hoseki." The Aura-Based Drake stood and walked with much authority towards the stage. Ulric Hoseki was a very strict and serious man, very fit to be a General or a Commander. Students fear him when he walks by or around the area.

"Ayala Kenya." The Fighter jumped up and rushed down the stairs. Ayala Kenya was a very energetic, smart, and tricky person. She is a Monkey Faunus and the sister of the future CEO of the Kenya Dust Productions, Trenz Kenya, a 4th year student. She has many enemies due to her status, but many respect and/or fear her. Once all four 3rd year students were on the hologram-like stage, General Grimm gestured at them.

"You four are Team AKUA posing as Beacon Academy students." They bowed and nodded their heads, moving to the back of the stage to wait silently for the next four. General Grimm nodded at them for showing respect before continuing.

"Shane Fenris." The Tactician sighed, rising on his feet and to the stage. Shane Fenris was a Beowolf Wesen and rather quiet enough that people think his red tattoos were fake. Beowolf Wesens tend to be outgoing, hotheaded, and loud people.

Wesens were people who were half-Grimm. You know when their Wesens if they have natural red tattoos similar to the Grimms' that go from their neck down to their wrists and ankles. Wesens don't have Semblances because they were basically super humans. For example, Half-Ursas have inhuman strength while Half-Nevermores have inhuman agility. Wesens were human-made distorted humans. It started when a scientist from Mistral were testing on people, about six, who had no semblance and decided it was a great idea to add Grimm DNA into his "vaccine". This vaccine went awry since after a month of taking one dose of this "vaccine", these six people woke up with unimaginable abilities and skills and red tattoos that are identical to Grimms'. Thus Wesens were introduced to the world. The genes from the six passed on to their descendants who passed it on onto the next generation and to the next. Soon enough, Wesens were as familiar as Faunus. They were also treated like the Faunus, which was the reason why they fought in the war between the Faunus and the humans. If you can't tell, like Faunus, they have a few behavior similarities with whatever type of Grimm they are. You can identify it by their tattoos and abilities. Wesens only cover about 20% of Remnant's population. Anyways...

"Amber Allison." The silent Fighter stood, calmly walking down with hips swaying. Amber Allison was the adopted daughter of the Headmaster of Ace Academy, Acelin Arc. She was a human outsider who managed to get into Lone Academy with ease despite only being trained for three years. People respected and awed at her skills, also awing at her looks.

"Brooklyn Sky." A girl with steel blue caucasian hair and air force blue orbs timidly rose and walked down with her hands folded. Brooklyn Sky was a very shy and quiet girl. She had low-self esteem, but excelled in combat and tactics. She was a graduate of Ace Academy as a Scientist and was aiming to be a Soldier.

"Rayne Anan." A wavy cardinal red haired boy with olive green eyes cleared his throat as he walked down the stairs, no need to stand up since he was standing for the entire announcement. Rayne Anan was a Bull Faunus and a playful, serious guy. He was pretty much the class clown of the 3rd years. He was a graduate of Ace Academy as a Politician and his goal was to be a Hunter.

"You four are Team SABR posing as Haven Academy students." They nodded and retreated back to be in front of Team AKUA. Grimm watched as the two teams began to chat lightly to each other before continuing.

"Venom Snake." A boy with black slicked back hair and green streaks. His amber eyes scanning the people around him. Venom Snake was the son of the Headmaster of Tale Academy. He was stuck up and has a big ego. He is a graduate of Ace Academy as a Politician and aiming to be a Leader.

"Isabel Alain." The Guardian bounced up and happily skipped down the stairs. Isabel Alain was a normal citizen of Sanctuary, nothing too special. She is a very optimistic, loyal, and affable person, a lot of people tend to hang out with her for those reasons. She excels in agility and reflexes skills, but lacks intelligence.

"Lawrence Princeton." A messy blonde haired elegant boy with baby blue colored eyes strode down the stairs with girls, and a few boys, cheering. Lawrence Princeton was the typical prince-student. Good grades, good looks, and a perfect personality. He was a graduate of Tale Academy as a Guardian and aiming to be a Hunter.

"Erik King." Another blonde boy with emerald orbs stood from his seat, but instead of walking down the stairs, he jumped down to the stage from the middle row, earning whistles. Erik King was a humble, prideful, and noble boy, nothing special about him. He was a graduate of Lone Academy and aiming to become a Leader.

"Your four are Team VILE posing as Beacon Academy students." The four bowed and walked back to where Teams AKUA and SABR were mingling. General Grimm continued on, trying his best to refrain from yelling at the students behind him that were being too loud for his taste.

"Regis Blades." The Politician cleared his throat as he walked down to General Grimm. Regis Blades was an Ursa Wesen and the first Wesen to ever have a semblance. Regis was the typical cool, calm, and jock type of person. He's pretty much the person who's friends with everyone.

"Uther Woods." The Bear Faunus' ears twitched as he hopped from the middle row and onto the stage, a goofy grin in place. Uther Woods was a typical jock, but was one of the most intellectual students around. He was pretty much one of the class clowns despite his knowledge.

"Nylee du Lac." The Dust-Distorted Human groaned and lazily walked down the stairs and onto the stage, timidly almost. Nylee du Lac was the first Warlock in decades. She was humble and shy, yet when she was around an area she feels comfortable and safe in, she's pretty much another class clown.

"Ellen Hunter." The Tactician sighed and started hopping one row, to another, and onto the floor. Ellen Hunter was from a royal and wealthy family, basically she is the daughter of Sanctuary's current King. The Hunter family was in the throne for approximately thirty seven years. Ellen was pretty much untouchable from most students.

"You four are Team RUNE posing as Haven Academy students." General Grimm bowed along with the Teams behind him. Team RUNE stayed where they were as Grimm finished the assembly.

"Now, as we discuss what these sixteen need to do by tomorrow… Would the rest of you go to the Armory where you would be free to choose which quest you would do. Dismissed." General Grimm made a "go away" gesture at the audience as he began to speak to the Tournament fighters. They only have a week to get prepared after all.

And it will be one hell of a week.

* * *

><p>"How pathetic…" A tall woman clad in a crimson red cloak snickered. "Looks like those Drakes are about to take flight." A white snowflake glyph that was in front of her showed images of the participants and their information. Footsteps were heard echoing against the walls, moving closer to the woman. When the steps halted behind her, she raised her hand and closed it along with the glyph.<p>

"Is the lady is troubled? It is not common for the great Seraphina Fall to be troubled by some things." A rough, old masculine voice spoke. The lady turned to see a gray-white haired man that had little wrinkles there and there. He had a cane in his hand and a flute in the other. The woman thinned her lips as she gazed at the elder man with much contempt.

"Forte Master… You're here quite early… Did something happen?" Seraphina asked, moving across the room towards a table with a maps of Remnant, Sanctuary, and Menagerie. Forte watched her carefully, stroking his chin in a very cliche way.

"No… no. Just here to ask you some questions." The old man looked around the dark room, in search of someone. "Is Jeff here?" Seraphina hummed in response.

"No. He won't be here until later. Something came up apparently, which will delay his visit for a while." The woman in red informed, sighing as she glanced back at her leader. Forte clapped his hands together.

"Ah, that's good… That means I have the time to speak to you about things concerning your sister. Something I don't want anyone else to hear." Seraphina eyed him carefully as he approached her with his scroll in hand. Forte presented the scroll to her with a picture of a woman in a red Dust-woven dress. Seraphina bit her lower lip at the sight of familiar amber eyes and onyx black hair. Forte's eyes flashed with mischief.

"You recognize her, correct?" The cloaked woman shot daggers at him.

"Of course… Her name is Cinder Fall." She began to eye the picture with much resentment and malice. Forte's lips twitched into a frown. Seraphina and Cinder haven't seen each other since their parent's divorce. Cinder being taken by her mother while Seraphina with their father. They were both 17 at that time and their family certainly had some complications afterwards.

"What do you want to know about my older sister anyways?" Forte's lips reverted back into a smirk as he closed his scroll and began to walk towards where Seraphina stood before he came in.

"Well… I heard many things about your sister. Some things you both have in common…" Forte glanced back at his little puppet to only see her back facing him. He murmured to himself about the lack of respect young ones have for their elders before clearing his throat. "I guess I'll start listing some things…" Seraphina scowled and pivoted to face her leader.

"What things do Cinder Fall and myself, Seraphina Fall, have in common?" Forte shook his head and massaged his temples.

"You both control a criminal organization. The infamous White Fang in Cinder's hands while the devious Black Shadow in your's. How convenient both groups are having quite a rivalry. Too bad our main base is all the way here, in Menagerie unlike the White Fang's who is the tunnels of Vale." Black Shadow was the second criminal organization that poses as a threat to the Kingdoms.

The Black Shadow, much like the White Fang, were mostly Wesens rebelling against the humans. Although, the White Fang and Black Shadow don't mix very well and declared each other enemies. They didn't make much noise, unlike the White Fang. They worked in secret, under tunnels beneath the city, in alleyways, anywhere that is a common secretive area. Black Shadow covered most of their tracks, unless their leaders want the Kingdoms to acknowledge and fear them.

"Yeah, but if you have already forgotten, old man, Draken Academy is on Menagerie too." Forte scoffed.

"I'm well aware Seraphina, so please… Do not interrupt me no longer until I tell you more about your sister… To catch you up on your only family member." Seraphina rolled her eyes and gestured him to continue. "Anyways, without further ado… You both are Warlocks. Well… Cinder is really only a half-Warlock, you're the pure breed since you are Dust-Distorted." There is a great difference between a Warlock and half-Warlocks.

Half-Warlocks are normal people who could control glyphs or dust easily. "Pure bred" Warlocks are not normal, in fact, fifty percent of their bloodstream contains dust within it, infecting their nervous systems and aura circuits so that they are living Dust themselves. They could use the elements without any form of Dust. Glyphs rely on Dust in order to be created and had to be mixed with certain types of Dust to make certain types of glyphs. Aura circuits is a part of the brain which holds and gives your body the knowledge of your aura and semblance. Wesens don't have aura circuits, which was the reason why they don't have a semblance or aura.

Dust-Distorted Humans weren't human made exactly. It is certainly a biased topic about what created these elemental humans. People say that a scientist created them, others say an accident happened, and the final theory was that whoever created Remnant created the Dust-Distorted Humans as their god to keep the world balanced. None of these theories were ever proven, leaving Dust-Distorted Humans as mysterious as the Grimm and Faunus. Although, they were powerful like gods, but they had a great weakness when using their semblance. For example, death is one of the weaknesses for some. These Warlocks, as people called them, were rare though. Probably one is born every seven years or maybe longer. They only cover about 10% of Remnant's population after all.

Forte began to list more and more useless information in Seraphina's opinion, but she was rather curious on how her older sister was doing now a days in this sickening world. Although, she was starting to get annoyed by the old man's babbling and opened her scroll when it looked like he had finished.

"Is that all?" The woman asked, playing around with a raw dust crystal. Forte grumbled before nodding. He knew well enough to not test Seraphina's patience.

"Indeed, except two more things." Seraphina grumbled a couple of threatening sentences before sighing.

"Alright… Spit it out. I have other things to do besides keep talking about my sister." Forte flicked his wrist, a manila folder came into his hand. He showed one finger at her.

"One, you and sister are sexy as hell. You both have an alluring aura, seductive resembles an angel while having a body from hell." This earned the perverted old man a slap in the face and a kick in the groin.

"You damn perverted old man. I don't want to hear that kind of crap again. Just tell me the second thing and be off! I have something to deal with besides your pestering." Forte groaned in pain before handing her the folder and fixing his posture. Leaning against the table, he opened his scroll to look at a student profile.

"Your sister has a daughter who's currently attending Draken. Her name is Amber Fall, but goes by Amber _Allison_." Forte shut up when a purple glyph appeared in front of him. He knew it was a signal to shut his trap and leave. So that's what he did.

"I guess my presence is no longer acquired by the lady. I'll be off then. I hope you have fun to whatever you need to do and to finally know that you have been an aunt for the past sixteen years." The door shut leaving Seraphina to her own thoughts.

"Looks like my sister has been hiding something from the world after all…"

* * *

><p><strong>Character Profile of the Chapter<strong>

Name: Amber Fall (Allison)

Age: 16

Race: Human

Gender: Female

Height: 162.56 cm (5'4)

Born: May 23

Partner: Isabel Alain

Eye Color: Silver

Hair Color: Jet Black

Graduate of: Lone Academy

Year: 1st

Family Relations: Daughter of Cinder Fall. Niece of Seraphina Fall. Adopted Daughter of Acelin Arc.

Abilities and Skills: Excels in hand to hand combat. Excels in mid and close range combat.

Semblance: Trickery

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><p><strong>AN: Whelp… This chapter didn't go as planned in the end. Oh well. Might see some grammar mistakes considering I'm posting this as soon as I finished it. Anyways, my apologies if this story didn't seem the way it did in the prologue. But I have, I think, a good plotline going. I pretty much completed this story from start to finish. Now to only write it out in it separate chapters and arcs. So… Yeah.**

**Also, each chapter will end with a character profile that has been removed of any spoilers. It will mostly be Draken students that are significant for the story. And if you haven't noticed, its been a month since the last chapter. Yes, every 19th of a month (maybe earlier depending) there will be a new chapter. Sometimes it might be a day or two late. I am writing this when I have inspiration. **

**Anyways, enough babbling. I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you all next chapter where hopefully, we'll see some actual RWBY characters. **

**~Archer**

**P.S. Again, I'm mostly focusing on character interactions and introducing. Maybe development, who knows. EDIT: Thanks Kit for the advice! I followed it if you re-read the chapter.**


	3. Tournaments and Coffee over here!

**A/N: Whelp… I got nothing to say but to enjoy this chapter. Oh, before you go on, I thank Kit who gave me some great advice for the last chapter. I have re-wrote it and added some stuff so if you don't mind to check it out. Once again, thank you Kit. Okay, now enjoy the chapter.**

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><p>The room was dark…<p>

Dark…

Cold…

It was also silent. A deadly sharp silence that filled the air that was shared among the people within the room. A young girl of the age of ten sat quietly on a metal-stone depressing looking chair. She looked down with a calm and bored face, but under that facade was someone who was nervous of the armed men surrounding the room. The girl had wavy shoulder-length silky looking jet black hair that was complemented by silver eyes. This was the young Amber Fall. She has been watched and on the continent of Sanctuary for only two months and was able to survive.

"Uh… U-um…" She looked at the guards surrounding her, each holding a rifle. They were all wearing helmets of silver with a black visor that covered the front of the helmet. They wore dark silver armored chest plates, gauntlets, and greaves. Underneath was a black dri fit long sleeves and black cargo pants.

"The Headmaster will be here shortly. Just sit tight." One of the guards told her softly, but still stern at the same time. Amber nodded and stared down at her hands. She was in this room for about two hours now and the guards won't let her do anything but sit and stay still. It was very boring, but she knew she will get a great outcome out of it if she behaves long enough.

"I apologize for making you wait. A little problem arose with the General." Amber's head snapped up to meet plum purple orbs that spoke sage with dark gray-silver hair that red pride. A man that looked around his middle age. The guards' stiffened as the Headmaster of Ace Academy took a seat across the young survivor. Amber continued to blankly stare at him as the Headmaster got himself comfortable, placing a mug in front of him and another mug in front of Amber. The girl looked at it with curiosity, sniffing the aroma of it for anything out of place. The Headmaster smiled and moved it closer to her.

"It's cocoa. The weather has been rather cold lately so I thought you might be a little chilly," The girl kept staring at it, and a sigh caught her attention. A warm and welcoming smile greeted her, "I didn't poison it. Don't worry." Amber nodded and gave a small smiled before gently grabbing the mug and taking a few sips of it. The Headmaster smiled didn't falter as Amber quickly put the mug back and stick out her tongue.

"It's hot." She stated as she blew out air to cool down her burning tongue. Acelin let out a heartfelt laugh.

"It was just recently made…" The Headmaster watched as the small girl hummed. He then decided to introduce himself. "My name is Acelin Arc. I'm the Headmaster of Ace Academy." Amber looked around the room, seeing the guards still in place. She folded her hands on top of the table and cleared her throat.

"I'm Amber…" The girl stopped, making the atmosphere tense. She knew that it wasn't smart to say 'Amber Fall' since her mother, Cinder Fall, was a leader of a criminal organization, the White Fang. She also knew it wasn't smart to say her father's last name, Allison. Her father was a leader of an infamous company known for black marketing, but his company also offered a great deal of high quality manufactured, processed, and raw Dust for a cheap price unlike the Schnee Dust Company. These two people mix well together, yet don't mix well together. Amber was created on a drunken night by a mistake her mother made. She wasn't suppose to exist if her mother hadn't been a screw up years ago.

"Amber…? What is your last name?" The child stiffened up, knowing well that if she doesn't speak soon, the Headmaster would get suspicious. Acelin raised an eyebrow as Amber grimaced in her seat. She needed to think fast. Either take her father, mother, or make up a sir name.

"I'm… Amber Allison. I'm from Mistral." Aceline smiled and took Amber's hands on top of his palms.

"Nice to meet you Ms. Allison. Let's get started shall we?"

* * *

><p><em><strong>Present time…<strong>_

The sun emulated a bubbly and happy aura, hiding the darkness and shadows within. It was a beautiful day in Vale. People were scurrying around with items, setting up booths and signs. Ships were arriving on the docks filled with students from Vacuo, Vale, Mistral, Atlas, and secretly Sanctuary. Draken students were sent a week before the festival to transfer and settle into the Academies, specifically tournament participants. The other students in 3rd and 1st years were temporarily shadowing at the schools, pretending to come from the special schools such as Signal Academy. Luckily, no one is being suspicious of the sudden new students every year that leave without a trace when the festival is over. After all, they've only been doing this for three years. Someday they would have to stop this little game, either when the Kingdoms are starting to catch on or when the Headmaster of Draken has accomplished whatever he wanted to accomplish.

Students were currently being greeted by Beacon students who were willing to help guests to their dorms and tour them around the city. Half of the Haven students were already being guided, the other half were still waiting, Team SABR included. Shane stuffed his hands in his pockets as he watched Team RUNE being guided by Team JNPR. Shane sighed as he continued to wait for his team's guides. The Hackers weren't able to set Team AKUA as their guide due to the fact they were recent transfer students, so it will cause suspicion if the system magically says that Team AKUA was helping Team SABR. Shane gritted his teeth of the thought of getting a random as their guide. He just hopes that he will get a nice team, not obnoxious or annoying like one of Team JNPR's members.

"Poor Regis and Nylee… Knowing those two, they can't handle energetic people. Nylee is able tolerates Ellen since Ellen knows when is the right time to be energetic around Nylee…" Shane muttered to himself as his team piled up next to him.

"Someone looks grumpy. Something wrong Shane?" Rayne asked, jokingly punching the Wesen's shoulder while resting his elbow on it as well. Shane rolled his eyes and shook his head. Only spending time with his team for about two weeks, he was already not too fond with Rayne. Amber and Brooklyn were okay, considering those two were usually quiet, Amber playing with her hair while Brooklyn staring at the ground. Rayne… Shane soon found out he was not only a class clown but a terrible flirt. His attempts of hitting on Amber failed with a black eye for three days.

"Nothing… I just want to get this over with…" Shane replied, scanning the crowd for people who are potentially their guides. That's when he was eye to eye with a boy around his age with blue eyes and chestnut brown hair. Shane frowned as that boy smirked and walked towards him with three other people behind him. The other three next to him noticed the group and knew they were the number one bullies in Beacon since Azura had told them about Team CRDL. Brooklyn slowly crept up behind Amber to hide from them while the silver eyed girl glared at them. Rayne only frowned deeply and crossed his arms over his chest as the group walked up in front of them.

"You're Shane Fenris, correct?" The boy asked as he towered over the Wesen. _'Cardin Winchester… The last person I wanted to meet...' _Shane thought grimly to himself, nodding in response to Cardin's question. The three boys behind him stared at Amber with hungry eyes. Amber gave them a sickening sweet smile as Brooklyn gripped Amber's coat tightly, scared for what was going to happen. Rayne coughed and cleared his throat, trying to get the attention of the boys. He failed.

"Yes. I'm assuming you're Cardin Winchester," Shane points at Cardin before pointing at the spring green mohawk guy, "Russel Thrush," Then points to the bronze haired boy, "Dove Bronzewing," He then points at the slate gray long haired dude, "And finally Sky Lark. All four of you make Team CRDL." Cardin glared at him and nodded.

"Yeah. We're your guides for the day so behave." Sky said, lightly pushing Shane who didn't budge. The slate gray haired boy scowled and turned back to follow his retreating team. Shane smirked as the team walked away from them, knowing fully well Sky saw the glowing Beowolf-like red tattoos on his neck. He was glad he did his research from both Azura and hacking into Beacon Academy's system to learn more about the students. He was also glad to be a Wesen, even though he might be mistreated. Wesens were quite feared by normal humans due to their unimaginable abilities. Shane could wrestle and defeat a pack of Beowolves by strength alone if he wanted.

Amber walked next to Brooklyn while Rayne was in between the girls and Shane, all following after their guides. Over the week time Team SABR spent together, they got along quite well. Amber was gentle and careful with Brooklyn like a mother would to her upset daughter. Rayne got on Amber's nerves, but since the girl was good at lying, she always played along with him while Brooklyn would hide behind Amber when the timid girl was being teased by the playful Faunus. Shane was feared, by Brooklyn and Rayne mostly, and respected by his whole team. He would barely saying a word to them unless he needs to warn or inform them of things. They were an efficient team, showing no problems with each other so far.

Team CRDL didn't bother showing them around the city, only leading them straight to Beacon to have them settled. Once in a while, Amber would catch one of the boys checking her or Brooklyn out and she would only glare and scowl at them once they turn away. Brooklyn would try to hide from their stares. Rayne noticed the silver-eyed girl's behavior and cleared his throat, walking faster to walk next to Shane. The Wesen hummed as Rayne whispered the situation to him.

"Aye, dude, Team CRDL are checking out the girls' back there. Amber seems like she'll blow a fuse while Brooklyn is really uncomfortable about it. Can we do something about it?" The Bull Faunus whispered. Shane nodded and exhaled a breath.

"I'll see what to do about it. For now, try to block their view." Shane responded calmly. Rayne nodded and slowed his pace to be in front of the girls'. As they began to move closer to the docks where airships are ready to take the foreign teams to their dorms. Amber felt a small tug on her coat's sleeve, making her turn her head to see a grimacing Brooklyn. Silver eyes bore through air force blue orbs, seeing the emotion inside.

"Um… Amber?" The silver-eyed girl blinked and smiled, giving off an alluring and welcoming vibe. Brooklyn felt comfortable around the girl because of the vibe she gives off. Brooklyn felt like she could tell Amber anything.

"Yes?"

"Your last name is Allison… correct?" Amber nodded, starting to catch on to what Brooklyn was getting at. The timid girl stared down at her feet. "Are you, by any chance, related to Lucifer Allison?" Amber tightened her fist at hearing her father's name. _'Lucifer fitted him perfectly.' _Amber thought, frowning deeply before noticing the guilty look on Brooklyn's face. She sighed and gave her a small smile.

"Indeed, Lucifer Allison is my father." She calmly answered. Her father was twenty two when she was born while her mother was sixteen. Her mother was a such a fool before she ran the White Fang. Amber was four when Cinder and a man named Roman Torchwick led the White Fang. She grimly remembered those days. It was not a pleasant experience. "Why?"

"Nothing… I'm just curious…" Amber knew that what Brooklyn was saying the truth, but there was still something more. Did something happened to Brooklyn from her father's company? That was usually the case when it comes to people asking her about her last name and her relation to Lucifer Allison. Amber shook her head. It wasn't like her to think about pathetic things like this. She was no longer part of Lucifer's life anymore and never will be involved with her father's life. So why should she care? Amber snapped out of her thoughts when she noticed Brooklyn walking two feet behind her. The silver-eyed girl slowed down to at least be in earshot with the timid girl.

"Just to clear things up… I'm not affiliated with my father. I never was. So whatever he did, I wouldn't know unless you inform me of it." Amber reassured the girl, quickly walking away soon after. Silence and tension filled the air soon after. When they reached their destination and waited for the airship to arrive, Brooklyn tugged on Amber's sleeves. The silver-eyed girl turned around to see Brooklyn smiling at her and giving her a short hug. Surprised by the timid girl's actions, Amber remained still, not knowing what to do.

"Thanks." The air force blue eyed girl released Amber and trotted away to the rest of their team. Amber stayed where she was though, processing what had happened. She shook her head and sauntered over at her own team, a question lingering in her mind.

Thanks for what?

* * *

><p>"So this is the room your team will be staying at." Dove unlocked and opened the plain, boring looking brown door, showing a medium-sized room with four twin beds and a couple of drawers. Team SABR entered the room, Shane with caution, Amber with no care in the world, Brooklyn nervously, and Rayne collapsing on top of one of the beds. Brooklyn timidly sat on a bed in the opposite side of Rayne, setting her bag down next to her feet. Amber dropped her bag next to the bed that was left of Brooklyn's and right of the wall. She began to smooth out the covers as Shane set his bag down gently on top of the last bed, which was right of Rayne's.<p>

"Is that all then?" Shane asked, eyeing the leader of Team CRDL. Cardin seemed hesitant to answer, causing Amber to fall back into her instincts. She grabbed her pocket knife underneath her jacket, feeling predatory eyes on her and Brooklyn.

"Yes, they are finished for the day." A new, familiar voice rang in the room's occupants ears. Amber slipped her knife into her pocket as Azura and the rest of her team slipped past Cardin.

Azura's duke blue hair was tied in a ponytail, instead of having it flowing down to her shoulders. Her facial expression spoke someone that doesn't care. Ayala had her fuschia hair down, for once, and it cascaded down to her waist, her face full of excitement of seeing her friends again. Ulric's brown hair was slicked back formal-like, a stern look that looked glued on his face scared everyone in the room to their toes. Kadir's hair was the same messy light brown hair and a bored look on his face.

Relief washed over Shane as Kadir and Ayala began to shoo away Team CRDL. The four bullies seemed to be wanting to fight back, but the sight of Kadir there scared them away, their heavy footsteps rang across the hall signaling their departure. Azura nodded at Kadir and Ayala in gratitude, sauntering over to Shane.

"It's good to see you guys again," The Beowolf Wesen shook the leader of Team AKUA's hand, "How's Beacon so far?" Azura made a face as Ayala cut in between the two leaders.

"Great! I mean, it's a little similar to Vacuo's festival last year, since Vale is smaller than Vacuo. The people here are quite welcoming and everything. A lot of people here seems rather inexperienced though, only few seem like a threat in the tournament. Who can blame them though?" Ayala chimed, as the others nodded. Sanctuary definitely wasn't a place to mess with when it came to training to become an important role in society. Some Sanctuary citizens decided to bring the knowledge they have learned and presented it to all of Remnant and became exceedingly successful. Although barely anyone hears from them again, the councilmen of Sanctuary could easily tell who were originally their people.

"For example, Team CRDL isn't much of a threat at all, only the fact that they eavesdrop on people probably is something to look out for. But a certain member of Team JNPR is a danger, considering her semblance involves things that are magnetic." Ulric approached the gathering members of SABR with his scroll in hand. He handed the object to Shane, who stared at the picture and name of Pyrrha Nikos. Amber's silver eyes flashed a burning gold, humming in interest.

'_So she's the one… huh...' _Amber huffed as the older members of her group spoke up.

"You fought her I'm assuming?" Rayne asked, reading the redhead girl's information. Ulric pursed his lips and shook his head, pointing at Ayala. Rayne's eyes blinked, slightly surprised the bubbly hyperactive girl could battle against an actual opponent. Ulric huffed and crossed his arms.

"We were at the sparring class, the professor, Glynda, chooses the students randomly unless they volunteered. She chose Ayala and Pyrrha by random, probably wanting to see Ayala's skills in combat since the rest of us have already went to fight others." Ulric informed as Azura cleared her throat. The brown haired boy looked back at his leader, who started making letters with her right hand. She was speaking in Sign Language to Ulric and Shane. Ulric and the dark gray haired teen began to respond to her in sign language. Most of the people in the room were confused on what they were saying, since most didn't know sign language except for Brooklyn, Ulric, Shane, Azura and Kadir. Amber's lips thinned when she spotted Brooklyn uncomfortably shifting in her place. Amber caught Azura occasionally staring at her as the Guardian spoke with her other three main companions. Ayala decided to break the awkward atmosphere.

"Anyways, we came to conclusion about her semblance since one team was talking about it, I think Team RWBY? I'm not sure, but that's how we found out she's a threat." Ayala concluded, her companions nodding.

"Anyone else showing to be a threat?" Ayala looked back at her own team, who seemed to be finished speaking with sign language. Azura sighed, pushing a few strands of hair aside. Kadir handed Rayne a scroll.

"There's quite a few."

* * *

><p>A ray of light came through the window where Team SABR slept. Silver eyes fluttered open, squinting at the light emitting from the sun. The owner of the silvery irises groaned at the light hitting her eyes and she turned to her side, facing the wall. Amber Allison was not a morning a person, much like her mother. She dimly remembers when Roman Torchwick would come into the room, trying to wake the two from their slumber to only earn a groan in response as mother and daughter turn away from the fabulous looking man. Cold water soon hit both of their heads minutes after the failed attempt to wake the duo up. It was probably one of the only good memories Amber had of the White Fang.<p>

After minutes of trying to fall back into deep, sweet, comfortable slumber, the Fighter gave up. Amber groggily sat up on her bed and stretched. She began to rub her eyes to clear her blurry vision as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Her eyes now clear and in perfect vision, Amber noticed that only Rayne and Brooklyn were still fast asleep and in the room. Meaning Shane was out doing something. _'Probably with Azura… Those two seem really close...' _Amber concluded, sighing and moving her hair to flow down her back.

She decided to take a walk around the campus before heading to the coffee shop near the library. For the past two days, nothing has happened except playing and visiting various booths in the Festival. They also participated in a few games, such as team sports, always winning unless their against their fellow teams, AKUA, RUNE, or VILE. Team AKUA had toured them around the city after they discussed about few key Beacon students who might stand a chance against them in the tournament. Amber dressed in her usual long-sleeved carmine red jacket, maroon red gloves, four inch long black heels, black utility belt, and black pants. **(Imagine Cinder's infiltration outfit concept art)**

She wrote a small note and taped it on the door before departing, heels clacking on the hallway floor. Amber slipped on her dark red headsets, listening to her music playlist on her orange themed scroll, stepping into the elevator as she did this. It didn't take long for her to finally reach the outside of Haven Academy student dorms. The sun greeted the black lens of a gold-trimmed frame of her shades that she slipped on as soon as she saw the light. A small huff escaped her lips as she began to stroll over to the library. _'Might as well pick up a book there while I'm at it...'_

Her morning walk didn't go as plan though when she spotted a mop of dark gray hair belonging to her leader Shane Fenris in the distance. He wasn't alone though, three other male students and one female student was with him. Amber squinted her eyes, only making out the hair colors the other students with Shane; One blonde, one white, one pure black, and the last one dark brown. The Allison daughter moved closer to the small group, instantly recognizing all of them once she was thirteen feet away from them. The Warlock Nylee, the Ursa Regis, the bear Uther, and the regular human Jaune Arc, leader of Team JNPR. Amber sometimes questions how Jaune ended up being in Beacon Academy, since he lacks combat skills. The day after she arrived in Beacon and started classes there, Professor Glynda had put her up against Jaune. It was an easy win for the skilled fighter.

'_I wonder if Jaune is somehow related to Acelin… Both are Arc after all...' _Amber cringed at the thought of having Acelin and Jaune being related. She hoped not.

The jet black haired girl raised an eyebrow as she watched Uther talking to some random girl passing them by, Shane and Regis standing by, letting passing girls gawk and flirt with them. Amber didn't even want to know what they were doing, thinking of it as only something childish, she began to walk away from the small group before a pair of egyptian blue eyes met her silver ones behind dark lenses. Jaune Arc was currently in her way. She tilted her head curiously as the boy in front of her shifted uncomfortably in his place.

"O-oh, h-hey Amber!" Amber hummed, making the blonde boy sweat, "Uh.. Um… I was wondering if y-you would like to grab some coffee with me? Hehe…" The girl rolled her eyes, playfully placing a finger on her chin.

"Hm… I don't know…" Jaune began to scratch his head cliche-like.

"Um… I'll treat you lunch?" The boy said in a hopeful tone. The silver-eyed girl shook her head and began to walk away from the poor leader of Team JNPR.

"No thanks. I think I'll pass on that one. Sorry Jaune." The blonde sighed in defeat and started mumbling to himself about why he can't get any girls while Amber giggled at his remark, still able to hear him while striding over to the library. Unfortunately, the odds weren't in her favor as a hand caught her own in a firm grip. Amber swiftly turned, ready to pummel the person who had abruptly grabbed her hand, to only halt mid-fist once she saw ice blue irises staring at her with alarm and amusement. It was Nylee du Lac. A sharp pain of frostiness coursed through her palm for a moment before a sense of warmth replaced the iciness. Amber took noticed that Nylee's eyes changed from ice blue to red-orange and finally back to its original multi-colored gems that Amber finds interesting.

Amber knew of Nylee du Lac when the parade happened back when they were only twelve. When all of the academies were closed and the whole kingdom came to celebrate the greatest got to show off their skills and fought Grimm in the arena. Amber still remembers vaguely of the destruction that the Distortion made. It was truly an eye sore. To think ten percent of the population are Distortions.

"Amber, correct?" Nylee asked with a polite and gentle tone. Amber nodded, seeing a slight nervousness in the Warlock's eyes. The Dust-Distorted Human was never good around people she barely knew, so it made sense why she was nervous around the jet black haired girl.

"Nylee?" Amber replied, turning completely around, breaking physical contact with Nylee, a seductive grin on her lips. The fighter knew Nylee was part of whatever the boys were doing, probably trying to get girls' number, so she didn't want the other girl to get a subtle hint that she was interested in her, but she also knew it was a chance to befriend a purebred Warlock. As she considered the possible outcome of the choices presented to her, Nylee decided to make her move.

"Sorry about Jaune by the way. He can't help himself when it comes to seeing girls that people strike interesting." Nylee stated, moving closer to Amber who gave her a smile.

"No, its alright. I saw you and the boys doing a competition of some sort and seeing what Jaune tried to do, you guys are trying to get girls' numbers?" The Fighter asked, putting her hands on her hips. Nylee sheepishly laughed, rubbing her neck as she raised an arm in defense.

"Guilty as charge… But what are you doing here?" Amber let out a soft snort.

"Taking a morning walk to the library to pick a book up and to the cafe." Nylee perked up at that and walked over next to the shorter girl. Amber turned to face her, having to look up since Nylee was taller than her.

"How about I accompany you?" The Warlock asked, flashing her a smile and offering a hand. Amber started twirling a lock of her hair, humming in thought. After minutes of awkward silence, the shorter girl spoke up.

"Sure. I would like the company." Nylee let out a sigh of relief as the silver-eyed girl took her hand. The two began to walk towards the library.

"Thought you were going to say no for a moment there. Would have embarrassed me." The Fighter giggled.

"Now I wish I did, I'd like to see your reaction." The Warlock pouted.

"Sadistic much?"

"Maybe… Who knows?"

_**Later after the library trip…**_

"Yeah, I remember that one time where Ruby was-"

"Gaaaah! Yang!" A pair of pale white hands blocked the vision of a seventeen year old blonde girl with lilac colored eyes. The owner of the hands had silver irises and black hair with dark red highlights on the edges of her hair. The blonde, Yang Xiao Long, laughed and pushed her sister's, Ruby Rose, hands away from her face.

Amber and Nylee chuckled in amusement as the sisters began to do a friendly bicker. The other two people who in the last two chairs surrounding the medium sized table that the six occupied, were watching the dispute. One of them had plain black hair which cascaded to her lower back and had amber orbs was reading a book, occasionally looking up to watch her teammates' bickering. This was Blake Belladonna, the Cat Faunus. The other one who possessed white hair and ice blue gems, was sipping her tea, looking annoyed by each word coming out of the two sisters. This was Weiss Schnee and she was clearly unamused by the bickering unlike the two Draken Academy students.

After stopping by the library, checking out only one book for Amber, the pair stopped by at Amber's favorite cafe. There, they were greeted by a friend of Amber's, Coco who was a student at Beacon Academy. Coco was a third year student of Beacon, one of the top students in her class, leader of Team CFVY, and a part-time worker of Inferno's Cafe. The dark brown haired girl with bole brown orbs was as well a fashionista, which was the reason why she and Amber became friends right away. After getting their drinks, the two sat down and talked about their time in the Festival. After half an hour of plain chatter, Team RWBY just came up to them and asked if it was alright if the group of girls sat next to the duo. Nylee and Amber were fine with it and accepted their company, telling stories to each other and that led to where they are now.

"My apologies of our teammates' behavior. They kind of do this all of the time." Weiss told them, causing the two sisters' quarrel to halt into a friendly laughter from Yang and a pouting Ruby. Amber offered Weiss a small smile of sympathy, as she couldn't imagine herself handling the sisters' everyday behavior. Nylee chuckled and crossed her legs, taking a small sip of her coffee.

"No need to apologize, Ms. Schnee. This pretty much happened to me and my own sister back when we were young." Nylee waved her hand in dismissal as Weiss rolled her eyes and probably thought she surrounded by dolts.

"When you were young. Both you and Azura seem more refine now." Amber pointed out, tearing out a piece of her bread and popped it in her mouth.

"Hehe, I guess so." Nylee timidly said, scratching her chin while taking a sip of her coffee.

"So, how are you guys liking the Festival so far?" Ruby inquired, pushing Yang's heavy arm off of her shoulders.

"Its not bad. Although, both of us are just here for the tournament." Nylee replied, earning a slap on the back from Yang.

"I can't wait to see you guys in battle! I bet it's going to _Ny_-rrific!" Yang joked, earning numerous groans from her team.

"Yang…" Team RWBY whined out, amused faces emitted from Nylee and Amber.

"Oh c'mon. You should've seen that coming!" Yang inquired, throwing an arm around Nylee and Ruby.

"Yeah, but you-" The silent member of their group, Blake, began before a worker of the cafe came by their table.

"So how's it going over here?" A young adult, third year student of Beacon, asked coolly. She had short dark brown hair, with a wavy lock on the right side of her face that was dyed with a gradient that starts dark brown and transitions into red. Aviator sunglasses covered her eyes. This was Coco, leader of CFVY.

"Oh, hey Coco." Amber replied with the same tone of voice that Coco greeted them with.

"Hey back at ya. Did you check out the clothing store I told you about?"

"No, not yet."

"Let's check it out together then? After Velvet's and I shift? Just wait two more hours."

"Sure, but I'm going to head back to my dorm first to check on my team, afterwards I'll come back."

"No problem. See you then." Amber waved goodbye to her friend, Team RWBY and Nylee were completely silent just to listen to a visiting first year student talk to a local third year student. They looked quite impressed how fast Amber became friends with an upper classmen.

"Did you know Coco makes great hot _cocoa_?" Yang earned a collective amount of groans as Nylee changed to subject to where they were previously talking about.

The six stayed for about thirteen more minutes before leaving to their respective destinations. Nylee decided to walk Amber back to the dorms. The walk was silent, neither wanting to destroy the peaceful atmosphere. They were quite finished talking after the cafe moment with Team RWBY. Amber, as the her and her companion stepped into the elevator, began to think back about when she was young living with the White Fang.

Everyone in the White Fang, besides a few, were Faunus. They didn't like humans at all during that time, only fear brought them to obey and respect the humans in higher authority than them. Amber, unfortunately, wasn't one of those humans. Cinder Fall never announced the fact that Amber was her daughter, resulting to abuse towards the young child. The silver-eyed girl shivered at the terrible memories of those days she swore she would never look back at.

'_But its too late… The damage has already been done.'_

Amber gritted her teeth and cursed under her breath. Two words lingering around her head. _Never Again _will anyone hurt her as much as the Faunus did. Nylee cleared her throat, which snapped Amber from her inner tirade.

"Um, this is the floor for your dorm, correct?" The Warlock asked, timidly almost. Amber nodded, giving her a sweet sinister smile before stepping onto the wood flooring of the middle hallway, Nylee following after her, multi-colored eyes staring at the swaying hips before her. The Warlock shook her head and knocked on her forehead.

'_Don't be your pervert self now...'_

Nylee told herself, as the jet black haired teen in front of her watched from the corner of her eyes in amusement. Nylee du Lac is certainly an interesting character in her eyes. As the two reached dorm room number seventy-two, Amber pulled out her keys and Nylee halted two feet away from Amber's dorm door.

"Well, it was nice hanging out with you for about the whole morning. I better get going now, I have team training in an hour so I ha-" The dark haired brunette was silenced by a finger being gently place on her lips. Nylee froze in her place as she watched Amber seductively walked closer to her, putting her right foot in between girl's feet and her left hand gently resting on the Warlock's right wrist. Silver eyes stared in the multi-colored gems belonging to the Warlock as a hand was place delicately under Nylee's chin, slender fingers were gently pressed on her left cheek. A soft pair of lips were pressed against Nylee's right cheek, making the brunette's cheeks flush.

"I hope to see you around." Amber cooed into the taller girl's ear, as she walked back to the door belonging to her team's dorm. She unlocked the door and slipped inside, leaving a flustered and dumbstruck Nylee in the hallway. Nylee flinched as the door shut, her mind feeling numb. She shook it off and started moving down the hall to the elevator. Soft foot steps echoed against the walls as the elevator door opened, revealing Shane Fenris towering over Nylee du Lac. No words were needed as Shane raised an eyebrow at the unusual smile on the short teen's face.

"Nailed it."

* * *

><p>Kadir let out a sigh of exhaustion and boredom. A day has passed since the "Best Flirt" competition ended an hour after Nylee left, he had won first place with Shane second and Nylee third, even though she had ditched them to go on a date with Shane's teammate, Amber Allison. For that solitary day, Headmaster Ozpin gave an announcement and offered a shadow opportunity for Beacon first years. That left the second to fourth year students and the visiting students behind in Beacon Academy. Nothing else happened besides the regular Festival booths.<p>

Kadir was sitting on his bed in the dorm provided by Beacon Academy, blue eyes scanning a book about the anatomy of Distortions, or Dust-Distorted Humans. He was alone with Azura, who sat on the desk chair, quietly reading articles online concerning of Black Shadow and the White Fang's recent activities. Ulric and Ayala decided to help to train Team RUNE for the tournament, specifically for those who are seen to be a challenge for Draken students.

Team AKUA and VILE both transferred into Beacon two days after they have been made into a team. They were told to shadow another team for the time they would be spending there, which was only two months since they were transferring back to their school in Heaven City, Atlas. The Hackers apparently said in their application that they were only seeing if the school is better than their current one in Heaven City. The Headmaster of Beacon, Ozpin, bought it and allowed them to stay. Both of these teams were staying an extra month at Vale in order to not cause any suspicion.

Team AKUA was shadowing Team CFVY while Team VILE was shadowing Team RWBY. The classes Team CFVY had were really easy and the team were much like Team AKUA's. Both teams were silent, high level in combat and intelligence, and tactical. They fit hand in hand. Team VILE though, was another story.

Kadir looked up from his book, staring at his leader and best friend, Azura Navy. The duke blue haired eye were still fixated on her scroll, looking very discontented. _'Must've found nothing again...' _Kadir concluded, closing his book and setting it aside.

"You should rest. Carvos won't mind if you hold off the investigation for a short while." Kadir advised, not surprised that the Guardian kept still as a statue on her seat. "C'mon, you've been working on this for almost a year now. At least take a little break." The light brown haired Scientist got up from his comfortable position on the red twin bed. He strolled over to Azura's desk, sighing as he saw a picture of a masked woman clad in a red and black samurai outfit of sorts.

"You're still looking for her?" Azura nodded, rubbing her temples and sighing as she closed the scroll on the desk.

"Kadir, you and I both know I won't stop until I find their leader. You should know why."

"Nylee is safe, there is no need to wo-"

"How about Yang Xiao Long? Weiss Schnee? Pyrrha Nikos? Fox? Coco? Amber Allison? Ellen Hunter? Jaune Arc? Trenz Kenya? Regis Blades? They're in danger as much as Nylee is." Azura spouted, causing Kadir to step back and raise his arms in defense.

"I understand Azura, but think about your safety as well. Not sleeping and stressing over this thing will damage you. At least give it a break until the Festival ends. We have a months worth of time anyways after the tournament is done." The Nevermore Wesen reasoned, placing his hands gently on Azura's shoulders. Dark blue eyes with gray tints glanced back at the Wesen, seeing scars and stitches underneath his jacket's sleeves, a grim reminder of Kadir's past. The duke blue haired leader dropped her gaze and let out a breath. She had already lost the battle before it even began.

"Alright. I guess I could wait until the tournament is finished." A rare toothy smile was on Kadir's face as Azura stood up and stared into the lifeless blue orbs.

"I know a good coffee shop down near the library." The Guardian closed her eyes and smiled, opening them to reveal new life that surfaced within the usual emotionless teen. When Azura was around Shane or Kadir, she was never the cool beauty everyone thought she was.

"Sounds nice. Let me get my coat first." The Nevermore Wesen nodded, watching as his best friend went over to her bed where her trench coat sat. Kadir sighed in relief, glad that he was able to convince the workaholic to take a short break. A sharp pain that resembles a knife stab coursed through his arm, causing him to hiss, but not too loud for Azura to hear. He was, after all, used to the sudden sharp pain he would get once in a while.

Kadir looked down to his sleeves, rolled them up to reveal bare light tan skin, marred with scars and old stitches. He frowned and pulled his sleeves down to cover the scarred skin, Azura walking over next to him with the usual emotionless face he was used to seeing.

"Ready?"

"Yup."

The two third year students leave their dorm, one thing on both of their minds.

'_I will Never Forget.'_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Six years ago…<strong>_

"Kadir Gwaine. Son of Marianne Gwaine and Lovell Gwaine. Age thirteen. Race… Nevermore Wesen… How interesting…" A man wearing a lab coat looked up from the clipboard in his hand to look at the boy sitting on a hospital bed. The boy had light brown army shaved hair and steel blue irises. This was the younger version of Kadir Gwaine.

Kadir stared blankly and emotionlessly at the man towering over him. The man looked fairly young, probably around his mid-thirties, and had silver colored eyes with blonde-red hair to match. The boy felt a sharp pain course through his whole body. Looking down to his bare arms and thighs, disgraceful bruises, scars and stitches covered them, making a color of bright pink-red on his limbs. The man before him smirked and knelt down to meet eye to eye with the son of Lovell.

"How are you feeling kid? Feel anything different?"

"..."

"Not the type to talk, huh?"

"..." The man scoffed and pivoted to walk towards the door where the exit stood in the plain white room. As his hand twisted the knob of the door, a meek, quiet, soft voice spoke.

"Wait…" The silver-eyed man turned to face the Wesen, a sickening smirk plastered on his face. Kadir's head was drooped down, hiding his face from the man, one sentence escaping his lips.

"What did you do to me?"

* * *

><p><em><strong>Present time…<strong>_

The cafe was lively, full of people and booming with music. Azura and Kadir sat in the corner near the serving and paying area. The pair chatted with the staff members as time passed by during their stay. They've been in the cafe for an hour and half now, both deciding to leave soon. As the two began to leave to walk around Vale, Azura's phone began to ring. The Guardian looked at the caller ID to only see a smiling face of Ellen Hunter. She answered the call as she looked warily at Kadir whose face showed slight concern.

"Hel-"

"Azura, the tournament is starting. Nylee is fighting for the first round." The duke blue haired teen's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"What? I thought it starts in two days?"

"Oh, no. Team JNPR said that its the pre-tournament starts today. The pre-tournament is to see which team qualifies for the main tournament. They're accepting only eight _individuals_, not teams, from each school. Today is Haven and Arkin Academy qualifications. Team RUNE and SABR are in the first round. Nylee and Amber are against each other, so I would hurry and get over here. You only have twenty minutes to get here." Azura pursed her lips and looked at the time, calculating in her head how long it would take for them to get there.

'_Arkin Academy huh? So Mistral and Vacuo schools are being tested...'_

Arkin Academy was a specialized school for people who wish to be Huntsmen, similar to Beacon. It resides in Arcane, Vacuo, a place where is it always humid or sunny. The system there is fairly similar to Beacon except for the fact that they don't care much about uniform regulation and academics. They mainly care about skills and combat on the field. Although, they don't show much of a threat to Draken students.

"Alright… Give us fifteen minutes. See you there." Azura hung up without letting Ellen say another word as she turned to Kadir who had his eyebrows raised.

"Well?"

"We have to get to Central Square. I'll explain the rest along the way."

"There you guys are! Hurry! Hurry! They're about to begin!" Ellen dragged her the two older members into the middle row out of the nine row stairs that was ten feet away from the arena. Azura took note that it was in the middle of central square. **(The place where Ironwood presented the new Atlesian Knight-200.) **The arena was in a shape of a rectangle five feet high and about eighteen feet long. The flooring was clean, made with smooth marble and the arena was open for anyone passing by to see.

Kadir looked around the place, quite disappointed that they made _this _as the fighting arena. He recognized a few people that were from Draken, mainly the third years. Although, he saw only Haven and Beacon uniforms and the people who seem like students from Arkin. Amber and Nylee were no where to be seen. The Nevermore Wesen turned to Ellen.

"I thought you said they were about to begin?" Ellen looked at him, slightly puzzled.

"Well, Mr. Ironwood just made an announcement so I assume they-" The young adult was cut off by a masculine voice that boomed in their ears.

"Hello students and citizens of the Four Kingdoms! Today is the day where our pre-tournament begins! Now, as Mr. Ironwood had announced, we're going to start off with Haven Academy students! Members of Team RUNE and SABR are going to be fighting in Round One, then we move on to Team ANGL and JOKE for Round Two. So let's get this started, shall we? From Team SABR, we have the devil's daughter herself, Amber Allison!"

Cheers, whistles, and a few "boos" filled the crowd as the jet black haired girl with silver orbs stepped onto the stage, nothing in hand. Her hands were on her hips as she flashed a smile at the crowd. She knew that the cheers were nothing more than people who were trained to clap for strangers out of respect, the whistles were from people who were interested in dating her, and the boos were from the people who seeks revenge against her father.

"From Team RUNE, the first Distortion in an annual tournament after years, Nylee du Lac!"

The crowd emitted the same reaction except that there were no "boos" from the crowd. The dark brown haired teen with multi-colored irises sheepishly smiled at the crowd, stiff as a doll. She did not like the crowd at all, feeling as if any mistake she makes in this fight will make people have her as the main topic in conversations. Although, Nylee knew she was already a main topic since she was a Distortion.

"Now girls, we don't want any cat fights or anything, we want a real full blown fight. Both of you have been told the rules and the crowd probably doesn't want to hear the rules. So keep it clean and the first one whose aura reaches the red, loses. So, why don't you both shake hands before I start counting down?" The two young adults nodded at each other, walking to the center field and grabbing each other's hands. Azura saw Nylee telling Amber something, to which the girl smiled and nodded.

"Alright! Get back to your own respective place so we could start!" Nylee patted Amber on the shoulder before walking to her side of the arena, Amber doing the same.

"Get ready!" Amber crossed her arms and circled her head around, as if trying to crack it.

"Three…" Nylee puts her hand in her pockets, slouching as if trying to appear as a shy, frail person. Everyone in Draken knew better though.

"Two…" Amber smirked, looking cocky and confident in herself. The crowd began to think that she was being too cocky for her own good. She was against a Distortion after all and everyone knew Distortions were one of the most powerful beings on Remnant.

"One…" Nylee's frail posure immediately disappears into a slightly confident one, her face showing an emotionless person, similar to Azura.

"And fight!"

The Distortion outer irises turned purple with the inner ones red, quickly walking towards the center, a hand resting on top of a sheath. Amber's smirk never faded as she strutted towards the center to meet face to face with her taller opponent, her hands resting on the two crossed sheaths behind her. Nylee's expression remained the same as Amber looks more teasing like. The Fighter slowly started unsheathing two medium sized blades as Nylee gripped the sword handle.

"I won't go easy, you do know that?" The Warlock asked as Amber nodded, sweetly smiling, as two black blades with orange outlining flashed in Nylee's vision. Quickly raising the hilt she was gripping on, a sound of flames igniting and burning boomed in their ears as smoke filled the air with an echoing sound of two metals clashing together.

As the dark gray mist perished and vision of the center arena was clear, the crowd awed at the flaming sword Nylee had created out of thin air with an empty hilt. It was a saber sword, clearly made out of red and orange crystallized dust in order to create the basic element of fire in this supernatural world. Amber's weapon was a plain looking machete sword, but the outlines were glowing orange. Amber gritted her teeth as Nylee remained emotionless, the outer circle color of her eyes carmine red and the inner circle flame orange. Both of them jumped back, three feet away from each other. The burning sword extinguished, with red and orange gems changing into purple and black, causing the saber sword to glowing purple as it emitted some type of mucky looking black smoke. Amber's smirk disappeared into a frustrated one, knowing full well that this sparring match won't be easy to win since Nylee's aura levels have remained the same without any decrease in them when it was obvious that the Distortion was using her aura. She took a couple deep breaths as the confident look returned.

"I know you won't. All I'm hoping for is a lovely dance."

* * *

><p><strong>Character Profile of the Chapter<strong>

Name: Kadir Gwaine

Age: 19

Race: Wesen (Nevermore)

Gender: Male

Height: 195.58 cm (6'5)

Born: ?

Partner: Ellen Hunter

Eye Color: Blue

Hair Color: Light Brown

Graduate of: Ace Academy

Role: Scientist/Hunter

Year: 3rd

Abilities and Skills: Excels in intelligence and tactics. Typical perfect student that could do anything. Inhuman agility and stamina. Master of reflexes.

Semblance: None

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I'm really lousy towards the end of things since I pretty much do this last minute. I'm really trying to keep my promise about chapters every 19th of the month. Anyways, things may seem rushed and its because I decided that adding too much "filler" (such as their entrance in Haven and Beacon) will push back plans. So I decided to pace some things rather quickly with some explaining along the way. Again, my apologies if I disappointed anyone. **

**I'm going to be honest here, I am new to write fighting scenes. Usually, I write fight scenes with people that I work collab stories with, so I'm a beginner in this part of writing. But the more I write it, the more better I get so I'm going to shake this off. No pun intended. Also, if you're confused about who's "The Warlock", "The Fighter", "The Wesen", etc. I'll try my best to flesh out who the character is since there is a lot of characters in this story, even in the show itself.**

**My apologies for long Author Notes and pathetic excuses, but it's just how I roll. Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter and I'll rewrite it as I work on the next chapter. I'll see you guys next chapter.**

**~Archer**

**P.S. I'm the worst pun maker ever, I swear. I tried, but my mind is pretty dry.**


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